Report: In-dash car tech can be annoying, buggy

Modern automobiles are rolling computer systems, bristling with processors and digital controllers. They’ve long been found under the hood, monitoring how the engine runs and other systems interact, but now they’re more prominent in the dashboard.

The April 2013 issue of Consumer Reports looks at the digital lifestyle features found in modern cars. Even the least expensive models now let you plug in your smartphone or media player right into the dash, and more cars come with sophisticated touch screens that control music and other features related to driving pleasure and comfort.

Built-in systems like Acura Link, Cadillac CUE, Chrysler UConnect, MyFord and MyLincoln Touch, GM OnStar, Hyundai BlueLink, Toyota Entune, and others offer a variety of connectivity and convenience options, from checking the weather in advance of a trip, to making a restaurant reservation and navigating your way to dinner.

The downside is that some of these systems can be frustratingly complicated and distracting to use, although many manufacturers wisely limit accessibility to some functions while the vehicle is in motion. What’s worse is that as systems have grown more sophisticated, some previously simple controls — such as adjusting the temperature or changing a radio station — have ended up being incorporated into touch screens, and may involve more steps than simply turning a knob. However, most systems allow at least some voice controls, which enable you to keep your eyes on the road during complicated tasks like phone dialing or song selection.

Many of these features also require a smartphone, which not everyone has – and even then, features may not be available to you if you don’t have the correct data plan. For example, I don’t pay AT&T to allow tethering or the Wi-Fi hotspot feature on my iPhone 5 – it’s not allowed with the company’s grandfathered unlimited service. As a result, I can’t use many of the high-tech features on my wife’s 2012 Prius, such as pulling in traffic data or searching the Web.

A separate story looks at the state of the art of in-dash electronics. Nearly every new car now comes with at least optional Bluetooth connectivity, and on some models it’s standard, touted as a safety feature for allowing hands-free phone calling. Touchscreens for GPS, entertainment and Internet connectivity are increasingly common, but the software design sometimes leaves a lot to be desired:

To reduce driver distraction, some functions are usually deactivated while the vehicle is moving. And though there can still be features that take your eyes off the road, using an in-car system is easier than trying to operate the small buttons of a portable device while you drive.

That said, some systems are easier to use than others. We’ve found Cadillac’s CUE and the MyFord/MyLincoln Touch systems to be particularly frustrating. Common gripes are complicated menus, touch screens that are slow to respond, touch-sensitive buttons that are fussy and imprecise, and small display fonts and buttons that are hard to quickly read and access.

On the plus side, Chrysler’s Uconnect Touch system provides simple, clear menus while retaining easy-to-use push buttons and knobs for frequent tasks. The 17-inch touch screen in the Tesla Model S has large onscreen buttons and is super responsive.

The story goes on to further criticize the MyFord system. It apparently suffers many of the issues found in poorly written PC software:

Regular readers know that we aren’t fans of Ford’s MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch infotainment systems. The controls are overly complicated, cumbersome to use, and potentially distracting. But aside from the usability problems, we’ve had numerous electronic glitches and system crashes in our test vehicles’ systems. . . .

The article also details how owners of older vehicles can upgrade their cars’ entertainment and connectivity features, starting from a simple $40 Bluetooth kit for hands-free driving, to third-party replacements for in-dash radios that feature sophisticated touchscreens. Those can easily cost hundreds of dollars.

I’ve started shopping for a new car to replace my aging 2001 Ford Mustang. In-dash tech wasn’t important to me when I bought that car – it still has a cassette player in it – but it’s high on my feature list this time around. I’ll probably end up with much smaller, fuel-efficient vehicle, but its digital features need to be top-of-the-line.

What’s in your dashboard? If you’ve got a high-end system, how do you like it? Is it easy to use and reliable, or frustrating and buggy? Let us know in the comments.

Promoting bluetooth kits as a safety feature is deceptive advertising. Talking on the phone is distracting whether you’re holding the phone or not. When someone calls me while driving, even with a handsfree kit, they sound like they’re stoned; when driving, I constantly see people who are obviously talking on the phone (or having an animated conversation with an invisible friend) and they are the ones randomly slowing down and speeding up, cutting across lanes because they noticed their turn coming up, forgetting to go when the light turns green, etc.

Now I’m sure someone reading this is thinking “Well, lots of people are bad at this, but I’m really good!” No, you’re not. Driving is complex and requires attention there’s one piece of technology that makes all this stuff being loaded into cars reasonable: self-driving cars.

I would like a bluetooth kit for listening to music, so I’ll look for that on my next car, but that’s about it.

John, there are many aftermarket bluetooth audio adapters that will work in your car for exactly that purpose if you have an input means. You can use the 1/8″ AUX input, or even the cassette adapter. I’m putting one in now.

I have the Pirus V with the touch screen. If you don’t get the GPS then don’t even bother with the touch screen. You need to have the Entune app and Bluetooth turned on for most functionality. It’s a waste and apparently after three years it will cost $60 a year. I would rather pay for satellite radio and actually get something in return. All Entune does is replicate what my smart phone does. If they really want to be advanced they would build in a wireless connection.

If something is built-in to your car, you are paying for it even if you don’t use it. For instance, my sister in law’s Mazda came with Sirius satellite radio and a free subscription for the first few months of ownership. She wasn’t interested in paying for a months subscription, so the satellite radio she bought is basically worthless.

Technology changes rapidly. If you buy a car with built-in GPS and computer features, those items will doubtless be obsolete long before the car goes out of service.

Therefore, it is best to get a car with bluetooth or auxiliary connectivity for an iPad or iPhone type device. Those can be replaced with newer models while you still own the car.

Another reason to buy separate devices, rather than built-in, is that you can use them outside the car. For instance, a GPS is very handy while walking around a confusing city like Florence Italy. It’s also nice to be able to take the GPS out of your car and use it in a rent car while on vacation. I think an iPad with LTE connectivity is one of the best travel accessories you can own. It also works well in your own car.

We bought a Volvo last year and to us, its lack of touch-screen doo-dads was a feature, not a bug. Bluetooth allows us to listen to the wife’s music from her phone on the car stereo. The phone already does turn-by-turn navigation and all the other things smartphones do. Why spend $2000 for redundant functionality that will go obsolete AND make the car more expensive to maintain?

The wife’s Highlander Nav system was ‘upgraded’ for our model year to disallow input and search while in motion. Which is fine so as not to tempt the driver, but it also prevents the passenger from making any inquiries. They threw out the baby with the bathwater.

The backup camera is very nice except there is no way to judge actual distance. The lens is so wide that the view is distorted (fisheyed) and you can’t really use it as a how-close-am I tool, just that something is back there somewhere.

In most cases we find the android phone maps and such easier to use while on the road. The Toyota’s built-in NAV system is largely redundant, and the maps after 2 years are woefully outdated. Our older Garmin is much more useable, has speed limit change notifications and also gives a current speed limit vs actual visual, the Toyota Nav doesn’t even come close. While the Toyota system is very stable and certainly not buggy in the least, the issue is the value.

My car is up for replacement in a few years and so far I plan to opt out of the NAV/Satellite option as it is way to expensive for the very little value it gives. Everything I might use a NAV system for is on my phone already.

Our 2012 Hyundai Veloster has a Bluelink system in it. The main drawbacks we’ve found are that in order to get traffic info on the navigation screen, we have to subscribe to Traffic from XM. It’s not all that expensive, so we don’t mind too much. The Bluetooth integration with our iPhones is great. We can stream Pandora and have the song information show up on the screen, and we can use the steering wheel controls to skip a track, give it a thumbs up or down, etc. We haven’t delved too deeply into the voice controls, and since we’ve had the car for almost a year, we probably won’t. We have found that if we use the Google Maps app on the phone and get turn-by-turn directions, the instructions will come through the car speakers, so that’s nifty.

Another nice thing about the Veloster is that the climate controls are analog. It consists of 2 nested dials, inner for fan speed, outer for temperature. In the center of the dials is the A/C button. Vent controls are two columns of buttons, one on either side of the dials.

I have found that in order to pair a device via Bluetooth, the car has to be in Park. Most everything else we’re able to do while the car is in motion, including entering in a destination in the navigation system. My boss’s Mercedes won’t let her do that. If she wants to use the navigation system, she has to be stopped in order to enter the information into it.

My wife has a 2012 Ford Edge with the My Ford Touch/Sync system. We’ve had two major updates since we bought the car and the Touch/Sync system has improved. We have also learned that it is best to be patient, because cussing at it doesn’t help. We have stopped saving favorites in the navigation system, because the first thing Ford tells you to do when there is a problem is to reset the system (sort of a Ctrl-Alt-Del). That wipes out anything saved to the system including navigation favorites. The voice recognition is better, but there are days when the system acts like it doesn’t understand English. Maybe it’s our Texas accents, and there may be days we’re more Texan than other days. There are idiosyncrasies that we have learned to deal with or live with; nothing major. My wife’s sister bought a Lexus about the same time we bought the Ford Edge, and she has her own set of issues with the Lexus system.

The latest update to the Touch/Sync system supposedly has simplified and flattened out the voice menu system. I don’t drive the car enough to know if it really is improved, but my wife hasn’t complained about having problems in quite a while.

My opinion is this is obviously a work in progress for all the players, and Ford should have given a little more thought into choosing the supplier of the Touch/Sync software (Microsoft).

We have MyFordTouch on our new CMAX hybrid and couldn’t agree more with Consumer Reports. It’s slow, buggy and has a (mostly) baffling UI.
We mainly use SAT radio, NAV and hands-free calling – what’s really frustrating is the poor integration with smartphones; you can transfer your contacts to allow voice dailing, but the NAV system doesn’t access the contact list. You have to manually enter destinations on the NAV screen or transfer them from mapquest.
While we really like the CMAX for the ride, interior fit and finish, and mileage; Ford may not make the short list for my next truck purchase – i’m hoping other manufacturer’s in-dash kit is better thought-out and executed.

I have the Ford Sync (not MyFord Touch) in my wife’s 2011 Expedition, and it isn’t too bad. It provides a bluetooth connection for phone and stereo audio, an aux jack, and a USB port (plus a second USB port that is hidden behind the dash, but functional if you can connect to it). USB ports support flash drives, iPods, and Microsoft Zunes (if, like me, you are one of the 10 people still using one). Ours has navigation, which is nice, but it isn’t a huge seller for me due to the regular obsolescence of the maps. It also has voice recognition for dialing the phone, tuning the radio, and controlling the USB device, but it can be hit or miss as to whether it recognizes what you are saying. Plus the menu structure is annoying, as it can take two or three steps to get to a particular function. I haven’t checked for an update recently, so that may also be part of my problem.

I also have a 2012 Hyundai Sonata with BlueLink (no nav). The BlueLink system is supposed to work kind of like OnStar, even providing turn-by-turn directions, but it is buggy at best. Plus, if you ever get out of cellular range, it crashes, even in the middle of a route. This car also has an aux jack, a USB port, and bluetooth phone and stereo audio. It has voice recognition for the phone, and it actually works better than most other systems I have used/tried. The head unit can control an iPod, although the level of functionality can vary between cars/iPods/cables. The navigation for using a flash drive is simple at best, but it is functional and I use it quite a bit.

Oh, and both the Ford and Hyundai systems are powered by Microsoft, for better or worse. One plus is that both systems are supposed to be upgrade-able via firmware flashes. The Ford can even be updated by the user. Helps a little in terms of keeping up with technological advances!

The BlueLink system in our Veloster has been updated by the dealer once in the year we had it. They accidentally left the USB flash drive plugged into the car when we picked it up, I was a nice guy & returned it to them. From what I understand, the system in the Veloster runs on Windows CE. There are people out there who have hacked it and created new templates for it. One guy has a template for it making it look like Windows 8, but the Navigation doesn’t work (yet).

From what I’ve read, Hyundai made sure that an Xbox could be plugged into the USB/Headphone jack and play through the in-dash screen of the Veloster (when the car isn’t moving).

The only problems we’ve had with the system have been the XM Radio ID will drop out, causing the XM to not work at all. Our XM account is current, and we’d be in an open area w/ a clear view of the sky, so it shouldn’t have been a lack of connection issue. They’ve replaced the antenna (don’t know why they think that would work), but that didn’t work. We have an appointment to have the entire head unit replaced next week. That should change the other issue, the fact that somehow we set a “waypoint” on LBJ in Farmers Branch, and we can’t figure out how to delete it, and for some reason our Home location is off by a half block, and is listed with the name of my wife’s church. Other than that, it works great.

I’ve got a ’12 Ram with a Media Center 430N. I like it. It is a touch screen and I can stream music from my iPhone, I can store music and pictures on the internal HDD, it has bluetooth for my iphone and speech recognition to place calls. When a call comes in, it announces who is calling. It also has GPS. I can check scores, get weather info, movie times, fuel prices and ski info (not that there is skiing around here).

A few caveats: Sometimes it doesn’t recognize the name to place a call. When I receive a text it does not alert me with a sound. Also, can’t use Siri when connected via bluetooth.

It’s got some great features, just not fully compatible with the iPhone 4 or 5. Other than that, I love it.

Surprised no one else has mentioned the Chevy Volt (or upcoming Cadillac ELR). The Volt has been a perception changing vehicle can make you feel as much like a pilot as auto can. Its dash controls take some learning, and the iPhone interface isn’t perfect, but it integrates well enough. If you can figure out an iPod, mastering the Volt’s controls isn’t a challenge.

Admittedly the car is not for everyone….for instance, if you need more than 4 seats, haul a lot of stuff or your work commute is over 45 miles roundtrip. Loaded up, Yes, there are more powerful,larger and luxurious cars with more gadgets, but for its size class — impartial customer satisfaction ratings tell the story.

I’ve had an opportunity to test drive some of the cars mentioned. My opinion, based on performance, is that most of the systems in question use the cheapest processors available that can still (barely) function. My 3 year old Galaxy is sluggish, but still faster than every vehicle I got to test drive.

I have a 2013 Mazda CX-5 with a touch screen and I really like it. Menus are easy to navigate and I can control my ipod on the touch screen if it’s connected through USB. Works great, no complaints here. I didn’t bother getting GPS since I have a smart phone. The HD radio is nice too, but on some rainy days I can’t receive the digital signal so in that case, I’m back to good ol’ analog. For those that don’t have HD radio, one big perk (besides the improved sound quality) is stations like 94.5 broadcast on two channels and the second channel hardly has any commercials at all. Rock!

I must admit I can never quite figure out my Prius… My big problem right now is that I can’t play music over Bluetooth. That conked out on me and would probably require a technician/tech support (LOL) to get working again. The nav is OK, I think, but it’s not integrated with my phone or anything.

I have a 2012 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid with MyLincolnTouch/Sync which I have a love/hate relationship with. On the plus side, I love having my entire MP3 collection available on a USB drive plugged into the car and when I’m driving to San Antonio it’s nice to be able to load my Microsoft Zune up with podcasts to listen to while driving. On the minus side, it’s a frequent annoyance that when controlling music with voice recognition it doesn’t handle partial titles really well. Consequently I had to go through my collection and clean up a lot of titles from MP3s ripped from CDs because there are some very “special” people who put information into internet CDDBs that ripping software pull track info from.

The car’s nav system will get you there but it has some problems. Like it shows my aunt’s house as being at the opposite end of her street. Then there was the time it told me to turn left into a parking lot (I didn’t) and then immediately told me to turn right which would have had me hopping the curb into someone’s backyard (I didn’t) and then go straight (which was the correct direction).

Stopping in Luling for barbeque inevitably results in the nav system warning me it has incomplete map information for the area. A problem Waze on my smartphone doesn’t seem to have.

The menu system is a pain to deal with and you sometimes have to hunt for things because they aren’t where you would expect them. It’s also on the slow side.

With the car barely a year old the audio module went out so I had to have it replaced and while the car was in the shop they updated the software. It looks like there have been some improvements to the nav system but I haven’t had enough time with it to say for sure.

When do you think that the manufacturers will begin to abandon all this in dash entertainment, and go in favor of a standardized phone dock with connections to a cd/am/fm stereo? I love my mountek CD mount for my phone and have the aux input run to plug into the headphone jack. If my unit had BT, I’d be using that to cut one of the cords. I’ve got entertainment (podcasts), navigation (Waze) and Google now a my fingertips for voice searching. I’ve programmed Tasker to read texts to me, and can respond if needed with voice.